Sunday shows preview: Fallout from Trump charges continues, gun reform debate heats up

The fallout from former President Trump’s historic criminal charges, as well as renewed debate over gun reform, is likely to dominate the Sunday talk show circuit this weekend.

The former president was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Tuesday for his role in a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

Trump and his allies have slammed the case against him as “politically motivated,” attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) over his “weaponization of the federal justice process.”

However, even some of the former president’s Republican critics have denounced the charges. Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who has frequently criticized Trump since stepping in December 2020, called the former president’s indictment an “abomination” last week.

“It’s the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power to bring a case that would not be brought against anyone else,” Barr told Fox Business last Friday. “They are going after the man, not a crime.”

The former attorney general, who is set to join ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday to discuss the case, suggested last weekend that Trump’s most serious legal troubles may instead lie in the federal investigation into his handling of classified documents.

“I think the document case is the most serious case,” Barr told “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t think they went after those documents to get Trump. I think they actually wanted the documents back.” 

Trump attorney James Trusty will also join ABC’s “This Week,” as well as NBC’s “Meet the Press,” on Sunday to discuss the former president’s defense against the Manhattan district attorney’s charges. 

“In this case, it seems like what we’re guessing the indictment will look like is it will have legal frailties that will be subjected to a very legitimate motion to dismiss early on,” Trusty told “Fox News Sunday” last weekend, ahead of Tuesday’s arraignment.

The charges against Trump specifically relate to a series of payments he made to his former personal attorney Michael Cohen throughout 2017, as reimbursement for the $130,000 hush money payment Cohen made to Daniels. 

Renewed discussions about gun reform are also likely to be a topic of discussions on the Sunday shows this weekend, following the recent shooting at a Nashville elementary school and the subsequent expulsion of two Democratic lawmakers from the Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday.

Three 9-year-old students and three staff members were killed late last month in a shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn.

As protesters descended upon the Tennessee Capitol last week to call for gun reform, three Democratic state representatives took to the House floor to lead chants. The Republican-controlled chamber held votes to expel all three lawmakers on Thursday.

While state Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) survived her expulsion vote, state Reps. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) were ousted from the chamber. Notably, Johnson is white, while both Jones and Pearson are Black. 

“What we saw in Tennessee yesterday was an attack on democracy and very overt racism, as you can see that the two youngest Black lawmakers were kicked out, but our colleague, my dear sister, Gloria Johnson, a white woman, was not,” Jones said on Friday. “And we see clearly, the nation has seen clearly what is going on in Tennessee.”

Jones and Pearson are both set to join NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Senate Chaplain Barry Black, who offered a rare plea for lawmakers to take action on gun violence after the Covenant School shooting last week, will also make an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“Lord, when babies die at a church school it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers,” Black said in his opening prayer last Tuesday. “Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.’”

Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this week’s Sunday talk shows:

ABC’s “This Week” — Former Attorney General Bill Barr; James Trusty, a lawyer for Donald Trump; Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred

NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Trusty; former Tennessee state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson; Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas)

CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.); Senate Chaplain Barry Black

CNN’s “State of the Union” — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas)

“Fox News Sunday” — Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” — West Virginia Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Patrick Morrisey; Bob Fu, China Aid president; Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.); former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker; Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law professor emeritus